PLATE CCIII. 



IXIA COLUMNARIS. 



Columnar-chived Ixia. 



CLASS in. ORDER I. 

 TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Three Chives. One Pomtal. 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 

 Corolla 6-pelala, patens, aequalis. 11 Blossom 6 petals, fpreading, equal. 



Stigmata tria, erediufculo-patula. |l Summits three, upright-fpreading. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 

 Ixia filamentis bafi cohaerentlbusi florlbus capi- ji Ixia with threads united at the bafe ; flowers 

 latis J corollis purpiireis. I| grow in heads j bloflbms purple. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1 . The two Valves of the einpalement. 



2. A Blodbm cut open. 



3. The Chives and Pointal, with the tube of the bloflom, tlie border cut off. 



4. The Chives cut and fpread open, with the tube of the blolfom, magnified. 



5. The Pointal and Seed-bud, with one of the Summits detached and magnified. 



Here we have a plant which prtlents one of thofe obftacles, conliantly met, in all attempts to a fyfte- 

 matic arrangement of the produ6tions of nature. Every feature of Ixia we find pofitivelj' exprelfed, 

 but in the unison of the I'hrcads ; a circumllance, which Linnasus in his fyflem, always deemed of 

 Uicli fingular moment, that a number of Genera have been formed, from this natural order of plants, 

 hint^ing on this only charafter. 



Rut, as this plant has been named, and accurately defcribed by Mr. Salisbury, in tlie Prodromus 

 to his garden 36. n. 18; and continued, from him, by Profeifor Martyn, in his Edit, of Miller's Didt. 

 article Ixia, 50; in the following therefore fuch fuperiour judgments to our own, we have thought it 

 proper, not to make any alteration ; and in eonfequence, have retained his Generic and Specific title. 

 The extreme brilliance of the flowers of Ixia Columnaris, pervading all the varieties, (of which we 

 have drawings of 6,) is not exceeded by any in the whole Genus ; they generally, are not longer ex- 

 panded than for sbout foui hours, and that only under a hot fun ; from about eight,till twelve o'clock; 

 when they clofe for the day ; but neverthelefs they have a permanence not ufual in Ixias, as the fame 

 blolfoms \\ ill open diurnally for above a week. It is a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and came 

 firft to England, by the way of Holland, about the year 1794. It flowers in June and July, amongft 

 the lateft of the tribe, and incieafes by the root in abundance. Our figure was taken at the Hammer- 

 Imith Nurfery. 



